Police Taser Student

You may have already heard about the student at the University of California Los Angeles who was tasered by police for refusing to show his ID. You may even have already seen the video on YouTube.

Mostafa Tabatabainejad is an Iranian-American 23 year-old student of Philosophy. He was asked to show his ID during a "random" check and when he refused to comply the policeman present, Officer Terrence Duren, tasered him five times, screaming in between each attack "Get up!"

The unfortunate Mostafa can be heard shouting "Here´s your abuse of power!" as he appeals to his fellow students, who are crowding round, to help him. They can be heard appealing to the officer who ignores them completely and then eventually asking for his name so that they can lodge formal complaints.

Officer Duren has been a policeman for 18 years and apparently this is not the first time he has been accussed of using excessive force, in 2003 he was accussed of shooting a mentally ill homeless man.

Mostafa had apparently been in the library using a computer when he was asked for ID. He claims he was singled out due to his middle-eastern appearance and so he refused. They asked him to leave, he refused, they called the police and they escorted him forcefully from the building as Mostafa shouted "Get off me!" Duren tasered him repeatedly even as he lay screaming on the ground.

Mostafa recieved a citation for the incident for "obstruction of a peace officer in the pursuit of his duty" and was released from custody. You can't see much of the incident in the video although it's pretty obvious from the screams and shocked onlookers that Officer Duren is enjoying his work a little too much. Well nice to know the Patriot Act is making you safe by allowing police to throw out and taser students who refuse to show their ID.